Ayers kickstarted the joint meeting of the Board of Education and the County Commissioners with discussing the board’s number one priority being a new cafeteria and kitchen area for Fairview Elementary.
The 52-year-old school’s cafeteria and kitchen area service 300 students at one time. A problem arises when there are currently 811 students enrolled in the elementary.
To access the cafeteria students, have to navigate a stairwell that is not ADA accessible or weather the elements to access the ramp to the cafeteria.
“It is extremely steep, for those of us who have actually pushed a kid up the hill at some point,” Ayres pointed out.
The new cafeteria and kitchen would be where the current bus parking lot is located, and the buses would be moved to a new location which has not been determined.
The architects are expecting a four to six month designing period and completion time is estimated to be 16 months for completion between the Fairview and Blue Ridge renovations. The finish line on these projects is dependent on subcontracted construction companies available for these projects.
Previous plans of renovations at Fairview included the addition of six new classrooms. The previous architects estimated that the project, including the classrooms, would cost from $18-20 million.
Pinnacle Architecture provided the county with an estimate of between $3 million to $4 million without the addition of classrooms.
The plans to add new classrooms has been removed due to plans of moving the 6th through 8th graders out of Fairview into the new traditional middle school.
Going along with the board’s priority list, it is expected that the Fairview cafeteria renovations will start first in the series of school improvements.
Related stories:
Blue Ridge School
New traditional middle school
Sports complex improvements
